Treshaun Ward is a massive get for Boston College. Where do Eagles go from here?

Intro we've BC's landed a few solid transfers so far nothing uh nothing you know very glitzy but on on Wednesday night BC landed a top 100 transfer that's gonna make you want to hear more about it we'll get into that in a moment you are locked on Boston College your daily podcast on the Boston College Eagles part of the locked on podcast Network your team every [Music] day [Music] hello everyone this is locked on BC I'm your host AJ black editor and publisher of Eagle Insider part of the 247 Network check out my work over there big news today before we get to that today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel make every moment more right now new customers get 100 $50 in bonus Bets with any winning $5 money line bet that's 150 bucks if your team wins fanduel.com locked on to get started all right so BC lands a big- time commitment the biggest one of their class so far and we haven't had Mitch on because Mitch you know there The Season's been kind of quiet right now but we like to have him on at least once a week and we we got him here now this is Mitch wolf of Eagle insire he's my staff writer if you're a VIP member or even just a reader you know exactly who he is Mitch how's it going going well it has been a little while but we kind of we've kind of known about some of these uh for you know some time or at least had good feelings about them but obviously we want to wait until they all come in and these were kind of I think these were three that we kind of were alerted to pretty early on so it kind of made sense to wait until we got all three of them confirmed because I think these I think Tran Ward is obviously the big name but I think the two other ones that we've locked in that BC has locked in sorry um have also been pretty important in I think we'll get into why in this episode right so if you guys follow me on Twitter ajack 247 I said this last night I use a wire GIF you know Joe suvin used to do Rick Ross now the current staff does nothing and I want to get you guys excited about it because I get excited in a weird way when BC lands a transfer or commitment so if you see those going and you guys saw brother maone last night this is what I was talking about this is Tran ward he is a running back uh who was on campus last week he took an official visit it was the only visit he took as far as I know um and committed pretty quickly afterwards this is a big deal Mitch why is this a big deal trean Ward Who is Ward is a guy that I've kind of known about tangentially for a few years now um he was a running back at Florida State previously he spent last year at Kansas State and he's never been the star but he's always been a very serviceable player and you know we've said a big how big a commitment this is and he's like oh he's just serviceful player it's like he's he's a good player um you know for and Florida State kind of a weird situation where they have Jon Corbin when he's coming up there so Jon Corbin's a lead back then Trey Benson transfers in so he's the lead back but uh Tron Ward is just a he's a complete running back in the sense that he does all the little things right he's a good maybe not spectacular athlete he's not huge but he's not tiny but he's a leader he's experienced he has very good Vision um he his story is very interesting so was a very accomplished player coming out of high school and I think he was a three star recruit at least but he ended up walking on at Florida State just because that was his dream school yeah he was committed to like Maryland I think or something yeah which I mean you know you can obviously say like Florida State's a premier program but Maryland's nothing to slouch chat but he said you know no I I want to go to my dream school I know and he basally like you know manifested what he wanted to do and said you know I'm gonna go there I'm gonna walk on and he earned a scholarship he was on Scout team for two years essentially and earned scout team uh player of the year I think at least two years um I have his bio up here um and then in 2021 he finally gets into the lineup and you know becomes a real important contributor for this team and they're still they were still kind of figuring things out with Norvell you know I think they went five and seven that year but productive season as a rusher and receiver has some kick return ability um and the thing that impresses me is that he made ACC honor rooll every year except 2022 which is his final year at Florida State he was a seminol scholar every year um and a burlsworth trophy semi-finalist in 2022 and a nominee in 21 and burlsworth is a it's trophy given to them uh I guess I'm not exactly sure like what the you know qualifier is it's a best or you know most impressive walk-on or former walk-on so very cool story of how he was able to kind of you know accomplish his goal of walking on at Florida State contributing really meaningfully there and then uh graduating from his dream school and then he transfers over to Kansas State you know Kansas State loses Duce Fawn to the NFL who was extremely accomplished there and they want another running back to kind of fill that role ultimately uh let me see what was the guy's name DJ giddens I think yep uh yeah DJ giddens at Kansas state was still the lead back but Ward kind of still filled the complimentary role and they kind of that offense went a different direction uh you know will Howard transfers out and they actually lose their office coordinator Colin Klein yes that former Kansas State quarterback Colin Klein to be the offensive coordinator at Kansas State so then he hits the portal again and ends up BC and I'm I'm excited for because obviously this year we saw how injuries at the running back position really mounted for BC as the year continued and we know that BC is gonna want to continue to run the ball this upcoming season and they still have KY robich show they still have Alex broom they have young guys like day TR Jones who redard last year they have turbo Richard coming in I know some people on the board wanted uh Raheem rocket Sanders from Arkansas who's going to South Carolina so they could have rocket and turbo in the back field and but you know can't always have the best things but Ward is definitely more than a serviceable player I really like how he fits in his team because you know robish show is going to be the Thunder he's going to be the PowerBack but Ward gives you a very very Ser a very solid serviceable number two option that can be the lead back if need be for a game or two um and he can take make basically take some off the plate of robit show so he doesn't have to carry the weight all by himself and even take some of the weight off Thomas castalano so he can ideally stay more healthy throughout the season so Ward is a walkon and you know you I I I can hear BC fans nashing their teeth a little bit when I when you said that he's a walk-on people are going to be like oh my gosh he's a walkon this is what we're excited about so just for some perspective from a 247 Sports perspective he is a top 100 transfer there's thousand you know what 2,000 plus transfers out there he's you know borderline four star he is a uh who is it Chris uh one of the guys I'm totally blanking which guy did it but put the top 10 running backs up there and he was like number seven so this is not just a like yeah he's serviceable but like this is a guy that I think a lot of folks probably wanted and it was it's impressive that even with all the the talk about the you know hot seat and six and six and whatever the BC was still able to land him yeah I mean Ward for the last three seasons over you know Wards stats two schools he's put up over 7 or sorry around basically over 650 yards from scrim and uh 19 touchdowns over the last three years so you know he's he's he's very productive when given opportunities but I maybe not as the lead guy but when you can have a rotation and that's BC has with robacho Ward and even broom now and it's kind of interesting I think broom is actually kind of the Home Run threat guy because the one thing about Ward is he maybe doesn't have that Elite long speed um but I think the idea is that with B with the way the BC's offense is going to be structured is defenses are going to have to be worried about the inside run with robich show and the threat of castalanos going to the outside and I'm really hoping that this signals BC being willing to employ more to running back sets and employ some like kind of pseudo triple option plays because the way that that would work is then you can really spread the defense out because they have so many responsibilities going in different directions and then because of that misdirection and confusion you might not need the Elite Speed because the defense is behind a step mentally based on what you're running on offense oh triple option BC or any form of triple option Triple option BC with with what what they have here that would be I think at least it would be entertaining yeah for sure I think like these are all explosive players who can beat defenses in different kinds of ways so defenses will have to prepare for all kinds that all kinds of different stuff and uh Mitch's cat also agrees with this he's here he's back all right so in a moment we're gonna talk about how the three transfers fill in we kind of already talked about um Tran Ward but let's look at the other two because I want to get Mitch's perspective Mitch has a good uh you know knowledge of everything but price picks is the most fun I've had for about up to 25 times my money this football season and now I can play during basketball season too you just select two or more players pick more or less on their projected stats and place your entry with the basketball season here you can now pick combo projections across football in basketball from the special leagues a league created specifically for combo projections that include two or more players from different sports or leagues for example LeBron James and Travis Kelce had a 10 and a half combo or three and a of three points made and receptions want to play AC AC along favorite uh celebrities like rapper Meek Mill and comedian Andrew schilz you can find them in the community tab so easy to use and you get paid instantly love how they have quick withdrawals easy gameplay and an enormous selection of players and Stat types it satiates any appetite for anyone who's looking to do some daily fantasy so go to prix.com right now and go to pri.com lockon colge and use code lockon colge for a first deposit match up to $100 again go to priz picks.com lockon colge and use code locked on colge for a first deposit match up to $100 priz picks daily fantasy sports Made Easy this is locked on BC I'm your host AJ black love having Mitch here and U Eagles Insider Mitch is an eagle Insider uh writer and has been doing a lot of great work over there and you can catch him on the board you know he was giving comments about some of the transfers and recruits he also does his writing U he's getting ready to prep for the SMU game at the Fenway bowl and right now until uh I think it's till December 20th we have a 50% off sale if you want to get transfer portal nuggets you got me I have I am as locked in into this stuff as you as you can get um I know everything I've talked to a lot of different people I'm getting all the Scoops get over there it's like three bucks a month and you're supporting our work if you like us come support us too go sign up you you'll we'll make it worth your money we promise now Mitch let's talk a little First Impressions bit about uh the the three transfers um and kind of like where you see BC at so far what what what kind of is your first initial thought after this first kind of flurry so the first thing that I see when I look at three three players that they're very experienced players they've been around for a while they've started a bunch of games at um I almost said at the power five level bre whis Brown has not done that um it's been at the G5 level so I almost misspoke there but guys who have a lot of playing experience um they know what they're doing they've been around a while they're also leaders um I mentioned that tran Ward uh was a former walk-on and worked as way up in starting lineup he was an academic uh ACC all academic or not all sorry ACC honoral member you seminal scholar so he's clearly you was K to somebody who was a leader on that team breit greeb was a captain at Georgia State Kamari Morales was on the the student athlete advisory Council for North for the North Carolina football team so all of these guys play leadership roles um for their respective teams and I think that's important given kind of what BC is returning on offense because you're losing a guy like Christian mahogany who was very clearly the heart and soul of this offense uh Kyle herle who's kind of that physical enforcer you're losing him on the offense and you're not losing a you're losing Pat Garo who's a you know very experienced player there um and you know losing George tus who and Ryan o'keef guys who are all who again last year or when they came in we all kind of very experienced players um and have been around for a while and you kind of need to replace that leadership element because obviously you know you have a guy like Thomas castanos who's going to be your kind of deao leader as the quarterback uh you know lead with his explosive plays that kind of thing but you want to have some other guys on the on the roster who are going to be playing a lot who are going to be able to lead by example and have experience in those roles so I think that's really important in terms of their actual roles I think all these I think actually ironically enough I think Ward is probably the of the of the three the least likely to be the quote starter because I think breis Brown is probably going to slot into be the starting Corner opposite of Mari Jackson um I was talking to somebody on the staff they were saying he is inside outside versatility he's mostly played outside at Georgia State uh I'll have to I still have to get into the film and kind of see how effective he is at both um but so that that's something uh and then I think Kamar Morales is it's kind of it's going to be kind of tough because watching him it's clear he he this this is going to be tough for fans to get because he is very very very different from what George tus brings George tus ironically enough uh was basically a six offensive lineman for BC and when he got hurt they they just went with that in reality by moving Jack Jack Conley to tight end um obviously you know t setm with drops wasn't particularly Dynamic after the catch but he was an excellent run blocker pretty good pretty solid pass blocker as well and he was very good at setting the edge as a online of scrimmage inline tight end Kamar Morales is not that he is a lot smaller and he is much more of a move tight end style player almost kind of like a fullback or HB um if you think back of inbc History kind of like a COR Abad rezy or Ray Martin type of player or even kiss Chris Garrison um so he's he's a very different style of player but he is significantly more reliable as a receiver than T is very good at catching over the middle fighting seams and zones and because he is kind shorter and more compact he's out and difficult to bring down so that's helpful against linebackers and defensive backs um and then Ward as we've kind of talked about is going to be able to just you know further distribute the touches on offense so that it's less likely any any individual player gets hurt just or gets worn down from the number of snaps they're taking so I think this is this a good job to get three guys who are going to be taking significant snaps for BC at their respective positions um I think that they still have a good amount of work to do in transfer portal at a few position groups but it's obious obviously early there's still a bunch of uh names in the portal and they're they're clearly very busy about getting offers out and you know expressing interest in players so it's clearly not done yet they've still got some work and they're working on getting some more players so you brought up something and I was just wondering is there a possibility next year that they use Morales as just kind of like their you know receiving tight end and then just throw Jack Conley out there a whole bunch no I'm not sure they'll do that because I think I I do think that Jeremiah Franklin has taken still not tus yet either but I think he's taken a lot of steps as a blocking tight end compared to where he was in 2022 um and obviously he's taken steps as a receiver as well um I do think that we're gonna see some more of Matt Reagan um I thought this is obviously a very limited sample size and relatively insignificant but when he did play in the spring game I was impressed with what he brought to the table as a blocker um ideally this year you know he has a year to red shirt gets stronger you understand how to play in college F I don't think he took many snaps but you know just kind of understand the Vibes if you will so this offseason they can kind of get him trained up to be that deao inline tight end so you know I think that that could be I think I think they're pretty okay at that position you know we obviously have uh uh are we allowed to talk about the other transfer tight end yet not yet uh there's well I can tease that there's a uh there's a crystal ball out there that I put out um and if you're a VIP member as I was just saying on the board uh you could find out who that is and I expect a decision there in the next 24 hours yeah so you know that that'll add something else and we'll talk about that once we get to it but you know that I think that position is kind of settled as for now um but I think we'll get into the other positions of need as we get further into this podcast yes exactly so just it's a good I I I'm I'm happy with the start with that Jeff affy's had so far it's he's he's hitting the needs that they have getting experience and building depth um and that's what we what they need and they've got guys that can do some things too right like you're not just getting guys that are Warm Bodies you're getting some guys that are making your team better and that was the whole point of that in that podcast we talked about BC's shifting strategy in the portal is or I guess shifting just overall recruiting strategies to get guys in the portal that can come in immediately and be significant players as either starters or uh very important situational role players which is more along lines of w because I don't think he's going to be the technical starter but I think you're going to see a pretty relatively even distrib of snaps and touches between Kai robish show him and Alex broom now in our final segment Mitch and I are going to look at what's FanDuel the rest of the needs and we'll discuss some of the things that folks have been saying and give our thoughts about where BC should be looking in the transfer portal with those remaining slots now as the weather gets colder the NFL offers stay hot on FanDuel right now new customers get $150 in bonus Bets with any winning $5 money line bet that's $150 if your team wins if you want to get your $150 I got to real easy bet for you Patriots and the Chiefs this weekend go ahead make that bet against the Pats because they ain't no way they're winning that game so if you've been thinking about joining FanDuel no better time to get in on that action use use my pick here I know I did poorly with Mitch on our college football picks but I feel pretty good about this one the app is so easy to use there's a wide range of betting options including spreads player props over unders and more it's easy I love it instant withdrawals of your funds if you win it's it's great so visit fanduel.com lockon and kick off the NFL season with FanDuel the official partner of the NFL this is locked on BCA J black and we're talking transfer portal this is Transfer Portal kind of been it's it's dwarfing any talk about prepping for the Fenway Bowl but Mitch and I will talk more about where that will be coming up and it's hard to get like I want I'm going to try to get beacon beacon Street ball back on this week but when there's like breaking news constantly about football and as I said that kind of rules the roost well we also enter a dead dead period next week right yeah Dead period starts next week too right so this weekend well that Dead period in in a sense is is a is not having people on but they're gonna be getting they're gonna be getting the results from this weekend next week so it's like no real dead period for us you know what I mean for the people covering it so Mitch we have three commitments right now I kind of have projected BC around anywhere around like 15 plus transfers for next year they had 10 last year I feel like they need to really build some depth let's look at the offensive side of the ball right now what other needs does BC still have on the offense so I think I think this is more informed discussion we talk about where Needs where where I don't think they have needs and where I don't think they're they're gonna try to get players so the first thing I think is that I don't think I honestly don't think they're going to be I don't well first of all I don't I think they're kind of done at tight end I think they're kind of ready to go there yeah I also think they're pretty good at running back I I think that they're fine with the guys they have now they have a solid three-headed rotation of guys with FBS experience and then two younger guys coming in that can spell them if need be that's five five running backs of guys who know what they're doing so that that's fine with me um I think that offensive line is honestly fine as currently constructed and I say that is with from the sense that I would rather them use a scholarship for a transfer person somewhere else where is a more dire need because we know that they're losing Christian mahogany and Kyle hgle but I feel decent about the guys who are on the depth St who have been with this team for a while that can step in and be maybe not as dominant as those guys were but they can be solid starters you have I can't believe gonna say this but I think Jack Conley can be a decent starting guard I think Kevin Klein who was going to be BC's starting right tackle in 2021 before he got hurt uh he can be a solid starting guard and I think Jude Barry can be a solid starting guard so of those three guys I think you can find something you also have guys like Otto Hess and Dwayne Alec who have been on the team for a while they haven't played a ton but they at least know what they're doing they're quality depth players so I don't I think B relative to what BC really needs I think interior offensive line is actually not that big of a need so I'm gonna I'm gonna say though I'm guessing the way that they've been addressing the portal I don't think the staff agrees with you because they've been going hard on interior offensive lineman there's been ton of if they can get one that is a starter and is and can be an impact player like a herle and probably can't find a mahogany out there so that's that's fair but if you can find a guy like Kyle hergo who can come in and be a very a good player like that then that's fine I'm just saying from my personal perspective I think that it would be useful to use it elsewhere but if they get a guy I'm fine with that um I do not think that they're going to be going after a quarterback in the portal because you're essentially going out and trying to find a quarterback that would be a backup for C onos and I think those those are hard to find because mosty most quarterbacks that are entering the transfer portal are entering to find a place where they can play not a place where they can compete or be the backup so I don't think that they're and I I feel like you said that they've been kicking the tires on some guys but I think that that's relatively low on their priority list right okay so then that leaves us wide receiver and I think that that's a tough one because obviously I like what leis Bond did this past year get Dino tomin back he's a reliable player uh you have guys like Jaden ski who flashed guy like Nate Johnson who is was a role player but maybe you can you know expect some development from him and then you have still have Joseph Griffin who not his best year had had some good moments had some bad moments so you have some guys there that are solid and again this is kind of a situation where if you can go out and find a guy you know similar to Ryan O'Keefe where it's like okay this this bumps everybody down the depth CH a little bit and that makes everything more comfortable that's fine but if you can't I'm not going to throw a fit over it so that's how how I feel about the offense um on the defense and this is this is this is the big side of the ball yeah exactly I think I think they definitely still need a lot of help in the secondary I think that they need to find a starting starting safety maybe two um because I think you know it was a bit of a rough year for Co bats and the strong safety position was particularly problematic um and I I do like what KP price did this season given that he was a true freshman and he played a lot and progressed as the season went on so I like his future but I think you need a guy that can step in and not force price to be that starter he needs like another year to yes exactly and another year where he can be just a rotational player he doesn't have to be the starter right um and if you can find another free safety that can kind of maybe reduce bats and roll or change it a little bit that's great too you probably need another start you need another quarterback that can start because and I you know now that clink scales has gone again we were kind of surprised by clink scales departing you're losing a player who again some inconsistent results but he was I think he was playing for the most part like okay if we you know project him out to at least develop a little bit each year he can be a serviceable you know adequate starter if you will um so you need to find some guys there because Jaylen Chek was really rough Max Tucker was obviously a true freshman but had his share of struggles and then you're pretty thin at that position group honestly because Jaylen Williams is also boly a special teams player um I wonder if they move K Johnson down to slot Corner especially for the bowl game at least because they need somebody to play there and he has some experience linebackers and I know people aren't going to like this but I do not I think they are fine with the linebackers they have and I would like them I I wish they were being more aggressive at going out to find somebody but I just don't think they are and yeah there's no there's no offers I again following where BC's you know the cookie crumbs of where they've been offering have not seen a single linebacker yeah and I don't love that strategy but that just seems to be the one that they're going with and I can see why in that they are getting camar back for another year and I know he's inconsistent but this was his best year by far which again not not the cleanest of compliments but you have a guy like that who's a veteran you are probably it seems like they're gonna get Bryce steel back next year which is great I know he again wasn't the best player but it's good to get him back good that he's playing gonna be able to play football again you've getting Jaylen Blackwell back from injury who I I like Jaylen Blackwell a decent bit as long as his role is used properly I like what Davon Crouch brought in limited snaps this year and ideally you're getting C holla some more snaps um maybe move up on mawn back to linebacker um so he doesn't have to play fullback anymore and I I know and they like what those guys have those guys who developed and what they're doing with them and I think we can quibble with that strategy I I'm not the biggest fan of it um but that seems to be the way they're going and that's just how it is on the defensive line I think they're I think they're solid where they are they're I think they're fine with where they're at too I think that they obviously love auraku they love horley um you know I think George works is an adequate starter I think I think they I don't understand why they didn't play Quan Williams as much as they as they as much as they did I think he needs more snaps um Nigel Tate is a fine depth player um you'll get Caleb Jones back after he missed the year with an injury so maybe he can see what he can do um and then the other defensive end spot I mean I think that the rotation of they can find some guys out of Nido ekala Edwin kingi and Gilbert Tong Gru and also you get Tai Clemens back from injury and they've got some other young guys they're like Clive Wilson uh um jiah gri and I almost said Joseph again so I think they're fine with where they are now and I think you're kind of just banking on okay last year we got pressure we just were historically bad at being able to convert that into sacks and that maybe regresses to the mean this year so I think they're fine with defensive upfront but I think they're and I think they're gonna be very aggressive in the secondary and not really at linebackers which again I'm not the biggest fan of but that just seems to be the way they're going the other position I've seen a lot of um movement on is interior defensive line so looking for someone which is kind of surprising given that I I thought Rooks was okay I still I don't I don't know why they don't like Quan anymore but I uh yeah so that that's that's a little surprising to me but I guess if they I think there's also just a lot of those guys out there so you can ideally find somebody that is g to be a meaningful player at that position so yeah um and Mitch before we go Chris brought up brought up something and I I would love your thoughts on this we have like two minutes I'll let you run with it Rising tide lifts all boats Pass rusher another pass rusher I've seen this a lot and I know you have your thoughts on the pass rusher I know they haven't played didn't play great but how much of that was on the secondary being just bad I think BCs pass rush that's a that's part of it um I think there were a lot of things um that played a role I think that them just missing missing a lot of sacks just was like unlucky a lot of times they also played like quarterbacks and systems that were designed to get the the ball quickly so that was part of it um so there were some elements of that but I also think the secondary did play a role and obviously that's harder to see um on the broadcast just because you're not seeing what's going on in secondary but if the quarterback is getting rid of the ball more quickly because guys are open then that's going to take away opportunities for the pass rush and it I I actually I ran this equation where essentially I found that based on BC's pressure rate which was I think they ranked like it was like 30th or something um so like so pretty pretty good you know or I think that was it and then they blitzed I think at like in the 50s in terms of ranking so you know they were doing good with pressure they were decent blissing a decent amount but they were you know second to worst in sacks and I think they had 12 sacks but and based on the number of pressures and the number of sacks based on like every other team in the country this year they should have had like 20 or 21 sacks so some of that is when I talk about regression mean that's what I'm talking about is you know BC has this historically bad outlier of a season when it comes to to sacks um so next year you hope that that kind of normalizes back I would again I would like to you know if you can find somebody that can be I think you mentioned on the site that there's um a Clemson transfer that they've been kicking that they've been interested in that they've offered um so he could add some juice there um but I think that that's why I I think there's a lot of elements that go to why the past rush struggled so much and it's not just like these players are bad there's a lot more that goes into it than that all right this is going to wrap things up Mitch where can people find your work you can find me at G wolf WF on Twitter uh Eagle Insider obviously check out Eagle Insider we got a lot of stuff coming up for the Funway Bowl uh in the next next week we'll be publishing a lot of that um I'm actually gonna be going to the game um so that'll be exciting be able to give live updates as we see them from the Fenway Bowl so and I uh you know obviously you know we've got the transfer portal that'll be kicking that'll be going out through you know the next few weeks and that's going to be huge for BC uh and yeah just a lot of great content we've added a lot of really really great personalities there that are creating some like I mean without even it's not even close that this is the best BC sports content that you're going find on the internet so make sure you go over to Eagle Insider and check that out yeah you got you got Mitch you got me you got uh be Beacon Street ball with basketball I mean the stuff he's putting out there is second Outro to none and you got BC hockey blogger who knows everything about hockey come over to Eagle Insider you're not gonna it's it's worth every penny and I I've I've made it so it's not just my voice I wanted a lot of voices there and I'm really excited where we're going with this so this is AJ black follow me on Twitter at AJ black2 247 hopefully we'll have some more recruiting news tomorrow um we'll talk a little bit about Henry hasselbach and what's going on with that I have some updates on there I want to talk to you about that and everything else going on thank you for listening please hit that like And subscribe button before you head out this is locked on Boston College your team every day